In recent years, LEDs have been adopted for vehicle lamps, promoting the reduction in size of light sources. For example, in some of those vehicle lamps, a tail lamp and a stop lamp are disposed close to each other so as to share a single LED light source unit and a common inner lens to which light from the light source unit is collected, enhancing the decorative features of the lamp. In fabricating an LED unit like the one described above, an LED and its control part are mounted on a lead frame made of a metallic board, and the lead frame is then assembled to a housing (for example, refer to JP-A-2013-200973).
In an LED unit described in JP-A-2013-200973, LEDs are mounted on one side of a lead frame. The lead frame is then bent at edge portions on an opposite side thereof to the side where the LEDs are mounted and is assembled to a housing. This enables the LEDs to be held stably, and the bent portions can be made to function as a heat sink.
However, in fabricating an LED unit like the one described above, as a matter of convenience in the process of manufacturing, the lead frame is bent after the LEDs have been mounted thereon. In the bending step, a deflection is produced in the lead frame, and the deflection produces, in turn, a local load in the portion where the LEDs are mounted. Thus, there are fears that fracture or separation is produced in the portion where the LEDs are mounted.